Two house fires, similar in nature, 100 yards and 24 hours apart

Fire crews responded to a house fire right around 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday at 3013 North Lee Street on the corner of Lee and Euclid, about 100 yards away from another suspicious house fire that broke out Monday morning.

Investigators are calling both fires, which started within 24 hours of each other, suspicious.

Tuesday morning, 24 firefighters responded to the home on North Lee and were able to quickly put out the fire, which was contained to the first floor.

Approximately $45,000 in damage was done to the home, with extensive heat and smoke damage through the residence.

Neighbors say the house was vacant but one squatter in the normally abandoned home was inside at the time of the fire.

He was treated for smoke inhalation and kept for questioning.

Right now fire investigators are trying to figure out what caused these two suspicious fires which both occurred at roughly the same time of the morning one day apart.

"Our investigators will check it out and determine whether or not the two fires are connected and figure out a cause on this one," Spokane Fire Department Battalion Chief Joel Fielder said.

Firefighters say Monday's fire was very similar in nature to Tuesday's in that the home had unoccupied for more than four months and there wasn't any power in either residence.

Investigators are now working to determine if both fires were accidents or arson.